Online inverts. Reeflcleaners vs reeftopia

[BowieReefer84]

Where is everyone picking up clean up crews these days? 
 

debating between reefcleaners or reeftopia. Or others?

 

thanks

[davjbeas]

I had a good experience with www.reefcleaners.org

 

[Jeremy]

I've bought from both but prefer reef cleaners, no real rhyme or reason for it tho. 

[YHSublime]

I prefer Reef Cleaners for the variety and stock, but it's a no for me with shipping. They will give free USPS shipping on orders over $75, but suggest you pay for UPS overnight with certain inverts and large orders. 

 

Reeftopia will ship for free overnight after you spend $150. 

 

I recently split a reeftopia order with a local buddy, and my nuisance algae was decimated within 2 weeks. 

[ReefdUp]

I was a loyal customer of reefcleaners for years.

 

I haven't bought any clean-up crew since I dealt with snails shedding flukes. Thankfully I didn't have any fish at the time. Now I just hate the idea of having to quarantine snails, in addition to everything else. 😒 

 

Moral of the story - snails can shed flukes for months (without a fish host) - and I don't know of any place that quarantines their clean-up crew for months. Pick a place that treats you well and just understand that you've accepted risk.

[BowieReefer84]

Yea. That’s my fear. I don’t have any inverts but I’m getting algae now. I may just QT them. 

[howaboutme]

I buy mine from Reefescape because they have a fishless invert system. While that doesn't get rid of all risks, it does go a long way compared to other options.

[Kathryn Lawson]

I had a good experience with a group order from Reefcleaners. I know others here have done group orders from them also, to save on shipping! If you're considering an order, I'd suggest posting to see if anyone else wants to jump in and split shipping (or add up enough purchases to get free shipping!)

[therootcause]

I have spent a few thousand dollars at Reeftopia in the past 3-4 years in group buys with other members and DMV reefers.  Always fast shipping, well packed, and no DOA's on anything ever.  This has included fish, starfish, various shrimp varieties, anemones, lots of macro and gorgonians, sea cucumbers, corals, and thousands of snails and hermit crabs.  My most recent order from mid June is below.   Make sure to use the discount code and the notes box to get free items that may be included above a certain purchase amount.  I wasn't interested in the free emerald crabs so I asked for extra hermit shell crabs and they tossed in a bag.

 

Regarding Reef Cleaners - I think it is bad practice to ship livestock through USPS. 

[nburg]

Also a loyal reeftopia customer. My first online order in 2006 was with them. Still use them. Only thing I ordered that was unsure of was nassurius snails - they were so small and never saw them again, otherwise all other snails and crabs were super healthy. Plus they have great prices in Ricordea and Rock flower nems. 

[xabo]

I've had had good experiences with Saltwateraquarium.com.

https://www.saltwateraquarium.com/video/hilary-jaffe-on-location/unpack-a-clean-up-crew/

[nburg]

6 minutes ago, xabo said:

I've had had good experiences with Saltwateraquarium.com.

https://www.saltwateraquarium.com/video/hilary-jaffe-on-location/unpack-a-clean-up-crew/

I ordered from them and they came in healthy, although I ordered mexican turbos and got half mexican and half zebra turbo which are different and eat different things. Little annoyed because I ordered from them to get mexican turbos. They do give you extras tho!

[Coralreefer]

On 7/23/2023 at 2:26 PM, ReefdUp said:

I was a loyal customer of reefcleaners for years.

 

I haven't bought any clean-up crew since I dealt with snails shedding flukes. Thankfully I didn't have any fish at the time. Now I just hate the idea of having to quarantine snails, in addition to everything else. 😒 

 

Moral of the story - snails can shed flukes for months (without a fish host) - and I don't know of any place that quarantines their clean-up crew for months. Pick a place that treats you well and just understand that you've accepted risk.

Dr Reef Quarantined Marine, sells qt inverts but the catch is that you have to buy $50 worth of the same type (as far as I can remember). Would be worth it if you split the order with people  

[keithIHS]

I recently bought some snails (Trochus and Bumble Bee) along with fish from Dr Reef Quarantined Fish, https://drreefsquarantinedfish.com/. All of their inverts are quarantined, but probably not for months. Their website says $60 for shipping, free if over $500. Most snails are sold in lots of 10 or 25. Gold Ring Cowries, however, are $20 each.
I have not had good success shipping USPS from Reef Cleaners.

I also bought snails a couple of times recently from AquaHaus in Springfield and was happy with them, but his quarantine process isn't as rigorous as Dr. Reef's.

[BowieReefer84]

I am just going with a UV sterilizer to try to slow some algae and seeing how that goes. I don't want to add inverts without a proper QT, and this summer I don't have the time.